Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
